I'm a college student who's passion is cars and tuning. I am big in to the VW car scene and have also had a long time passion for photography, just never really did much about it. I use to be in a photography club in middle school, 35mm film, black rooms, all that good stuff, and I use to have a Minolta SLR camera. After middle school I never really got back into it (baseball took up most of my time) until now. I have been looking around at a few cameras for a starter and I found my way here to see if you guys could help me out.

A really good friend of mine shoots a D50, which is way out of my price range for a beginner, but his first camera was a Nikon 40D. He recommended I go with that or with the Canon T1i, which was a little more money but I would be able to do more with it and it would probably last me longer than a 40D. Now, I spoke to a friend with a T1i and he told me to just spend the extra $100 and get the T2i. So at the end of the day I was looking around at all the features the T2i has to offer and am considering picking it up with in a few months. How do you guys feel about this camera for the money? Worth it? No? Why not?
Also I like the T1/2i because I would like to get into some HD filming as well.

Sorry for the long write up, looking forward to learning ALOT from here. :thumbup:

[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]There are a number of disadvantages associated with higher pixel density sensors. One important consideration is that you will want to invest in a higher end quality lens that can support the sensor's increased resolution capability. The simple rule is that if you invest in a higher-resolution camera you need a lens that offers sufficient resolving power, which generally means spending more. [/FONT]

[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Other issues related to high pixel density include; lower dynamic range, reduced high ISO performance, diffraction issues, and increased possibility of camera shake. Although the extra resolution from a 18MP sensor provides for gain in fine detail compared to a 12.3MP sensor, the disadvantages typically outweigh the gains. [/FONT][FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]By adding even more pixels to the Rebel T2i / 550D without increasing the size of the sensor, Canon is pushing beyond the resolution threshold of APS-C sensor technology, and in our opinion has once again opted to sacrifice on quality and practicality in favour of a marketing based decision.[/FONT]